The first major offshore event on San Francisco Bay for 2024 was the Big Daddy Regatta hosted by Richmond Yacht Club on the northeastern part of the Bay. The format is enjoyed by many sailors, with one-design and buoy racing on Saturday, followed by a PHRF handicapped pursuit race on Sunday. Sixty-nine boats showed up for Sunday’s PHRF pursuit race. Winning was Peter Wagner’s J/111 SKELETON KEY. For more Big Daddy Regatta information, visit http://www.richmondyc.org.

Robert L. Johnstone, lll has been named the 2023 recipient of the Nathanael G. Herreshoff Trophy, US Sailing’s most prestigious annual award, going to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the sport of sailing in this country in any associated activity. Presentation of the Trophy is planned during the 2024 US Youth Championship in Bristol, RI June 22-25. The recipient is selected by the Board of Directors from nominations made by US […]

The annual Southern California Yachting Association Midwinters Regatta took place in Los Angeles February 17-18. The J/111 fleet in Southern California continues to strengthen every year. Yumio Dornberg’s REVO won six of seven races with a runaway victory. John Staff’s experienced offshore team on OBSIDIAN took the silver, counting six seconds in the scoreline. Rounding out the podium was Dan McGanty’s J/BOSS counting mostly thirds and fourths. For SCYA Midwinters details, visit https://www.calyachtclub.com/regattas.

Bill and Jackie Baxter’s J/111 team on Fireball notched its third consecutive win in the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta’s ORC division with another impressive performance that included four wins in six races. A pre-start port-starboard incident on the second day of the regatta marred their nearly perfect scoreline with a 12-point disqualification, but they put it behind them on Sunday morning and dominated both races from start to finish to close the series with […]

On a little chain of islands a few hours south of Miami, there’s a town popping with palm trees, humming with live music, and surrounded by shimmering turquoise waters. Forget port/starboard: in Key West, the roosters roaming the streets have the right of way. At the southernmost point of the United States, the Southernmost Regatta presented by Sailing Inc. ran January 15-19. A wide range of conditions ensured the best teams found their way to […]

Variable sailing conditions hounded this year’s 79-strong Rolex Big Boat Series fleet, but the competition was as fierce as ever for the 59th edition of the West Coast’s premier racing event. The unpredictability influenced the leaderboards daily, with shifts across most of the eight classes competing. From a challenging ebb coupled with strong gusts in the low 20s on Thursday, to diminishing breezes each subsequent race day, even the most seasoned RBBS competitors had to […]

The annual end-of-summer sailing season classic in northern Michigan has been the Labor Day regatta on Lake Charlevoix called the Red Fox Regatta. Hosted by the Charlevoix Yacht Club, the regatta includes a Friday evening “beer can” race as a warm-up to the main event on Saturday and Sunday. The event essentially starts in Charlevoix on Saturday morning and a course is determined by wind conditions to go around a variety of marks before ending […]

With course lengths of 116 nm and 143 nm, the 2023 Vineyard Race on September 1 attracted 89 entrants for the 89th edition. Hosted by Stamford Yacht Club (Stamford, CT), winners included Bill & Jackie Baxter’s J/111 Fireball in Class 12 PHRF. For full event details, visit https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=15833.

The 2023 J/111 North American Championship was part of the Verve Cup Offshore Regatta at Chicago Yacht Club in Chicago, IL from August 10-13. Peter Wagner’s Skeleton Key racked up four bullets in the first four races and never looked back to retain the title with 14 net points. The team was comprised of John Collins (bow), Nicholas Gibbens (headsail trimmer), John Hayes (mast), David Lyons (spinnaker trimmer), John Pernick (main trimmer), Cory Schillaci (bow) […]

Sailors gathered in Youngstown, NY for the 2023 edition of the Can-Am Challenge and enjoyed a light air regatta with two races. Doug Clarke’s MONEYPENNY won the J/111 one-design division on a triple tie-breaker at 4 points each over Roeland Polet’s FOREIGN EXCHANGE. Third was Rick Lohr’s NIGHT OWL. For more CAN-AM Challenge Regatta information, visit https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=15668.